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- ARE PEOPLE LESS VIOLENT? (COMMENT). (2)
- Dick Weisfelder: My prior comment was just in the context of sports. Whether or not from Pinker, I have seen the...
- erik: It seems doubtful that human nature has changed. The most likely explanation would be that modern culture gives...
- HOW BANKS PREPARED FOR A U.S. DEFAULT. (2)
- GREECE’S ADVANTAGE IN THE CHICKEN GAME. (2)
- Nick: That makes sense. It reminds me of the stories Pater Familias would tell me about how in Boston the person with...
- Dick Weisfelder: Greece seems to me to be playing a game that Karl Deutsch called “underdog.” While one...
- FOOTBALL PLAYERS DELIBERATELY CAUSING CONCUSSIONS? (3)
- Nick: It was my understanding that boxing gloves were to protect the puncher’s hands and not the...
- Dick Weisfelder: Remember the Roman arenas? Bare knuckled boxing? Such injuries were taken as natural and accepted in...
- Mary Jane Schaefer: This isn’t about football. Or even sportsmanship. Well, it is about sportsmanship. But what...
- A 25 % CHANCE OF A EURO DEFAULT? (1)
- Nick: The fact that this has gone on for so long is pretty perplexing. The Economist is referring back to articles it...
- DECIDING WHAT KIND OF PATIENT YOU ARE. (1)
- Dick Weisfelder: One can be very open to new technology, but also risk averse. The recent debates about how to...
- THE EUROZONE—A CHICKEN GAME WHERE EVERY MEMBER CAN BLOW IT UP? (1)
- Mary Jane Schaefer: This is not a matter of chicken. These are all turkeys.
- ARE PEOPLE LESS VIOLENT? (COMMENT). (2)
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Monthly Archives: April 2009
GLOBALIZATION AND MONGOLIA’S NOMADS.
GLOBALIZATION AND MONGOLIA’S NOMADS. This article in the Wall Street Journal tells about how the financial crisis in the West is having a dramatic effect on nomadic herders in Mongolia. With the recession in the West, the demand for cashmere … Continue reading
Posted in Economics
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SUSAN BOYLE AND OUTLIERS.
SUSAN BOYLE AND OUTLIERS. I posted here a week ago about Malcolm Gladwell’s book OUTLIERS and wrote that: “Gladwell goes on to argue that a myriad of acquired skills explain the difference that social class makes. He takes as an … Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized
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CAN A COMMONER BE A BRILLIANT WRITER?
CAN A COMMONER BE A BRILLIANT WRITER? The supporters of the Earl of Oxford seem to find their strongest support in the belief that the Shakespeare plays must have been written by an aristocrat. (This wikipedia article gives a lot … Continue reading
Posted in Literature, Shakespeare
2 Comments
NOT WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE—BEYOND A REASONABLE DOUBT?
NOT WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE—BEYOND A REASONABLE DOUBT? This article in the weekend Wall Street Journal reports that Justice John Paul Stevens believes that Edward de Vere, the 17th Earl of Oxford, wrote Shakespeare’s plays. Justice Stevens has held this view since … Continue reading
Posted in Literature, Shakespeare
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PIRATES OF LAKE MICHIGAN.
PIRATES OF LAKE MICHIGAN. The Chicago Tribune had an article today about a gang of pirates who roamed Lake Michigan in the 1850′s. Their booty included lumber. Here is an article from the New York Times from October 10, 1855 … Continue reading
Posted in History
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TWO CONCERT HALLS.
TWO CONCERT HALLS. I posted here about some of Professor Donald Shoup’s conclusions about parking. In the article linked below, James Cameron discusses Shoup’s argument that having parking spaces next to a facility can discourage the use of downtowns because … Continue reading
Posted in Economics
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PARKING IS NOT FREE.
PARKING IS NOT FREE. I posted here about the proposition that shortages of parking spaces occur when the price of parking is too low to clear the market. James Cameron writes an informative regular column about transportation in our local … Continue reading
Posted in Economics
5 Comments
ARTISTS AND WRITERS USING OLD FORMS.
ARTISTS AND WRITERS USING OLD FORMS. I have often wondered why there seems to be almost no modern classical music which uses the approaches of Mozart or Beethoven. A newly discovered composition by one of them would be highly valued; … Continue reading
Posted in Literature
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PASSING OVER ETHICS IN SILENCE.
PASSING OVER ETHICS IN SILENCE. In the article I linked to yesterday, David Brooks says:”Today, many psychologists, cognitive scientists and even philosophers embrace a different view of morality. In this view, moral thinking is more like aesthetics.” And later: “You … Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized
1 Comment
DOES REASONING HAVE ANYTHING TO DO WITH ETHICS?
DOES REASONING HAVE ANYTHING TO DO WITH ETHICS? David Brooks has an article entitled “The End of Philosophy” which describes current scholarship that argues that moral judgments are not made through a process of reason and deliberation. He quotes a … Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized
3 Comments